Who Knew?
by Katalini
Summary: Who knew Riza would find that kid? Who knew that this kid could bring Roy and Riza together? With a little planning by Maes of course. *Rewritten!
1. The Unexpected

_A/N: Hey guys, as you might have read, this is first chapter of the new, rewritten "Who Knew?". I have a small explanation on why the fanfic was moved and rewritten, etc. So bear with me!_

_And for any new readers out there, this is basically a story I started back in like 2007. So this story is based on the events from the original anime series for FMA, not Brotherhood.  And I won't have anything from the Conquerer of Shambala movie on here, and I did make some slight changes from the original series. So I suppose you can call it slightly AU. For example, Al has his body back, Roy is ranked as General, and Maes never died :O but besides that, that's about it haha. Anyway, hopefully new readers will like this, and old readers will remember the original story if they read it three years ago. So hope you guys enjoy! If you would like to see the explanation for why it was moved and such, there's a small explanation on my Author Info, and an even larger explanation on my old account, KatRat. _

_If you have read the old one, there are a lot of things I'm planning to change. Though, there isn't going to be super major changes, I'm trying to keep everything in character. Last time, it just seemed all over the place, so hopefully you'll all enjoy the rewrite :)_

_Thanks again!_

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**Chapter 1. The Unexpected**

_5:35 AM. First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye's House_

*RING RING RING*

"Ugh..."

First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye groaned as she slowly rolled over in bed. She tried desperately to tune out the sounds of her alarm, but failed to do so. To those who knew Miss Hawkeye, they would know first off that she's not the morning person. Yes, most days she would reluctantly get out of bed right away; however, this wasn't one of those days. Frustrated, she stretched her hand out from under the covers, trying to reach for the alarm clock. After a couple moments passed, her hand finally found it. She wasted no time to turn it off.

Success.

She let out a relieved sigh as the beeping stopped. A couple peaceful moments passed by of quiet, blissful sleep. Until the alarm clock came back for a second round, that is.

*RING RING RING*

This time, the alarm clock not only woke up Riza, but also her faithful dog, Black Hayate. The dog opened his jaws to let out a tired yawn. He sat up at the end of Riza's bed and turned to his master, hoping she'd put an end to the alarm.

"Damn it.."

*RING RING RING*

Riza quickly sat up from her bed, infuriated with the constant noise. In doing so, she pulled something out from underneath her pillow. In one fluid motion, she swiftly aimed her hand pistol at the clock and pulled the trigger. Hayate yawned and barked happily as she put an end to the noise. She sighed and looked to Hayate, petting him on the head "I suppose I should get ready for work, shouldn't I?" Just as if he read her mind, he gave a bark in agreement to her question. She took a deep breathe, and reluctantly crawled out of bed. She began her morning routine to prepare for work. As if the incident with the alarm wasn't enough, nothing seemed to be going her way at all. Hot water ran out during her shower, temporarily misplaced part of her uniform, burnt her hand on the stove, and spilled Black Hayate's food all over the floor. It made things even worse to mention that these events will make her late for work.

So yes, there was plenty of swearing that morning.

As she got to the end of her routine, she began to gather her things and head for the door. When she was about to leave, she saw Black Hayate as he trotted up to her, leash in his mouth. She softly chuckled to herself as she looked down at the dog's pleading eyes, "Alright Hayate, you can come. Just don't cause any trouble."As she said this, thoughts of the Warehouse 13 incident popped into her mind. She remembered that clearly, where her colleagues became superstitious about the Warehouse 13 myth. Believing about the myth, her friends became fearful and eventually believed there to be a dead body near the warehouse. When they began to dig around to search for this dead body, they realized the bones in the soil came from Hayate. It was a coincidence that his digging spot just so happened to be near the fabled Warehouse.

After she bent down and attatched the leash to his collar, she was ready to begin her day.

_Some day this might turn out to be_, she thought to herself as she and her faithful companion were pacing down the street toward Central HQ.

Suddenly, as Riza was nearing the corner of the block, a boy came around and ran down the sidewalk. The boy was in such a hurry, he accidentally tripped over his own feet. He landed right in front of Riza, who was surprised by the sudden appearance of the boy. She bent down, reaching her hand out at the boy, "Here, let me help you." The boy looked up at Riza with puffy eyes, taking her hand as she helped him to his feet.

She quickly studied the boy from head to toe. He was young, probably no older than ten, she thought. He had a tan complexion, and shaggy dark auburn hair. His bright hazel eyes looked as though they had a story to tell, full of hurt and loneliness. He wore a simple attire, wearing just a red shirt, khaki pants, and sandals. Riza noticed a rip on his left sleeve, curious as to what happened there. The boy had clutched that arm with his hand, so she couldn't see what was wrong. She leaned in closer to the boy, trying to further examine his shoulder, "Please, let me try to help you." She said as she looked into the boy's eyes. She turned her attention back his upper arm, gently touching his hand, trying to move it away.

The boy moved his hand away as it dripped with blood. Riza's eyes widened as she saw the boy's wound. There looked to be a cut in the boy's arm, possibly a stab wound. Quickly, Riza pulled out a hankerchief from her back pocket and wrapped it around the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. As she finished wrapping it, she locked eyes with the boy, hoping that he would trust her enough to speak.

She began to speak slowly, with a warm tone in her voice. "If you come with me, I can help you."

The boy still hesitated.

Riza still didn't give up. She put on a friendly smile for the boy, "My name's Riza. What's yours?"

The young boy sniffled, "Chris... Chris Hale."

"Can you me a little about yourself, Chris?"

Chris slowly nodded his head and spoke in a quiet tone, "I'm only eight. I live with my father," he sniffled, "M-my mother passed away awhile ago. My.. Father's an alcoholic. He's not exactly the best person to be around after he's drank.." Chris took a couple moments and paused. The young boy's eyes began to water. He took a deep breath before continuing, "He- Well, he had a knife this morning. That's what happened.. With my arm."

Concern began to fill Riza's eyes. Was this boy constantly abused? How long has this gone on? Riza's soft side began to kick in, wanting to help the boy. She wasn't only concerned for his wound, but also what might be going on in his home life. Before she had the chance to reply to Chris, he began to speak again. "Y-you said you can help me?"

Riza gave a warm smile and nodded, "Of course. I'll take you to Central HQ, it's where I work. The doctors there can look at you and help heal your wound." Riza gestured her hand down the sidewalk, and the three began to walk. "You're safe with me." As Riza said this, Black Hayate barked in agreement. Chris laughed and gently pet Hayate's head. The boy was relaxed after hearing this, thankful he had run into Riza. The three continued to walk toward HQ, hoping they'd get there soon.

_- Meanwhile, a few blocks away... -_

"DAMN IT MAES! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" General Roy Mustang yelled as he slammed down his fist. Roy sat idly by in the passenger's seat as he coldly glared at his best friend, Maes Hughes.

Maes could only flash a grin at his passenger, "Sorry, Roy." He shrugged, "If I knew I was going to late I wouldn't have offered to take you to work today." Roy just shook his head and crossed his arms as he glanced out the window.

A few silence moments passed between the two. Sensing that Roy was still upset, Maes tried finding a way to lighten the mood. "But, on the brightside..." He took a pause to reach for something in his pocket, "I GOT THESE NEW PICTURES OF ELYSIA YESTERDAY!" He squealed with joy as he began to bombard Roy with pictures.

"I see that, M-"

"OH ISN'T SHE THE MOST ADORABLE THING YOU'VE EVER SEEN?" Maes exclaimed. Yup. Roy was positive. He was positive that Maes loved his family too much. Whether it was pictures, or perhaps a story of his daughter, Roy was the first person to hear about it. This was a daily occurrence between the two. Ever since the day Maes's daughter had been born, Roy felt like he lived in hell sometimes. Sure, he was happy for his best friend. However, there were many times when Maes could drive the man insane. Sometimes he would compare it to paperwork. Dreadful, dreadful paperwork..

No, he takes that back. He **knows** he would rather listen to Maes than deal with paperwork. There was only one problem..

He can run away from paperwork. He can't run from Maes.

"I've heard it all b-"

"Oh, Roy!" Maes exclaimed as he turned to Roy, "You know, she's turning seven this week!" As he said this, he tossed several more pictures toward Roy's way. Roy was now blinded with images of a girl and her watering can. He groaned and flailed his arms at the pictures as Maes threw them. Roy sighed, "Yes, I know Maes." He brought his voice down and muttered, "You mentioned that thirty-seven times this week."

Maes tilted his head, "Really?" He thought out loud, "You actually counted?" He shook his head and quickly changed the subject, "Anyway!" His enthusiastic and loud tone made Roy slightly jump, "What are you planning on getting Elysia for her birthday? A dollhouse? A teddy bear? Oh! A dress? Her favorite color is pink y'know.."

Roy let out a deep sigh as he propped an elbow on the car's window and rested his chin against his hand. He's quite used to his best friend's babbling. By now, he's learned to tune most of it out. Not like Maes ever noticed anyway. As Roy sulked away and gazed out the window, he noticed a familiar figure ahead of them in the distance.

_Hawkeye?_

_No, no. The woman's with a kid. That can't be her. _He thought to himself as Maes continued down the road. He could have sworn it was her, the woman was wearing a military uniform. Being that he couldn't see her face, however, he doubted himself and put aside his thoughts. The route they were taking to HQ happened to be drawing them closer to the woman, dog, and child. As they drove closer and closer to the three, Roy noticed the car starting to slow down.

Maes poked his friend's shoulder, hoping to gain his attention. He raised a brow as he looked at the woman, "Hey, isn't that your lieutenant?" Roy sighed and opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Maes. "Hey! Riza! Do you need a ride?" By this time now, the car pulled over to the right, next to the sidewalk by the three figures. They three came to a stop and looked over at the car. The woman raised her brow, bearing a quizzical look on her face.

It was Riza.

She turned to them, surprised by their convienient appearance. "Sir? Hughes? What are you doing?"

Roy looked over at Riza, curious as to why there was a young boy with her. As he quickly examined the boy, his eyes came across his shoulder. He noticed the bleeding wound, shocked and confused at the sight of it. What happened to him? Roy immediately felt it was urgent to get him back to HQ. Roy darted his eyes back to Riza, "Get in." Though Riza hesitated for a moment, she opened the door and Chris, Hayate, and herself jumped into the car. Seeing that they were in, Maes stepped on the gas and they made their way toward HQ. He looked into the rearview mirror, taking a glance at the child with Riza. Like Roy, he soon became interested in the story behind the child.

As they sat silently in the car, Riza took a moment to check on Chris's wound. She examined it, seeing that some of the blood had already began to seep through the hankerchief. "Are you alright, Chris?" She whispered as she was examining the wound. He nodded back in reply, "Yeah, I'm fine Miss Riza. Don't worry."

Maes was suspicious of the boy's wound in his arm. However, he decided to question about that later. He flashed a smile as he continued to drive, "So Riza, that's a handsome boy you got there!" Not hearing an answer right away, he continued, "How could you keep him in the dark from us? Tell me, who's the father?"

Riza sighed and responded in a flat tone, "He's not my child, Maes." She began to explain to them how she met Chris. She then explained the them about his cut, and the situation with his father. As Riza concluded her story, the group had already arrived at Central HQ. As they walked through the doors, Chris began to be nervous about his new surroundings. Not knowing what to do, he clutched onto Riza's hand. She was shocked at first, and looked down to the boy. Remembering how much this boy had been through, she gave in and gladly let Chris grab onto her hand.

When they were on the way to Roy's office, Roy had begun to ask questions. "So what now, Hawkeye?"

Riza straightened up and began to speak in a stern tone, "Sir, I'm planning on having the doctors take a look at him."

Roy nodded in response as they entered the office. They were soon greeted by his subordinates as they arrived.

Kain Fury and Vato Falman looked over to greet the group and said in unison, "Morning General."

"Hey Chief," Jean Havoc gave a small wave as he began to light another one of his cigarettes. Jean looked up and noticed a kid among them. He raised a brow at Riza, "So.. Who's the kid, Hawkeye?" He grinned impishly, "Is there something you never told us about?" He was surprised to say the least that upon saying this, he did not hear the safety click off of Riza's gun.

Riza began to get tired of the constant accusations of Chris being her child. She replied in a no nonsense tone, "No, Havoc. He's not mine." To make things easier for everyone, she began to quickly summarize the story behind Chris.

"Ah, I see." Everyone else concluded. Behind Riza trotted Black Hayate, which quickly created a very nervous Heymans Breda. Panic overtook Breda's face as he spoke, pointing at Hayate, "W-why did you have to bring your mutt again, Hawkeye?" Riza sighed at Breda's irrational fear of dogs and ignored his question.

Wasting no time, Roy had walked over to his desk and picked up the phone. He began to dial for the infirmary. He was patiently waiting for a response and soon after, someone picked up. "This is Genearl Mustang.. We have a kid here who needs to be looked at.. Possibly a stab wound.. Affirmative.. Thank you." He hung up the phone and turned to Riza, "They said they'll take a look at him and help as much as they can."

He then turned to Maes, "Hughes, can you take him down to the infirmary?"

Maes happily nodded and looked down at Chris, "C'mon Chris. You can come with me! You can see Miss Riza later." He grinned from ear to ear as he offered his hand to boy. Chris nodded and grabbed onto Maes's hand. He smiled and looked back to Riza as the two left, "Goodbye Miss Riza!"

Riza raised a hand at the two, giving a small wave. She felt the corner of her mouth tug into a smile as she watched the two go. She was sure the infirmary would help his wound. However, the events of how she would help him at his home situation were still on her mind. She knew it would be a complicated process. Hopefully, she could find him a good home. But who could she trust to do that?

In the distance, everyone in the office could faintly hear Maes speak in the hallway.

"So Chris, have I told you about my Elysia?"

Everyone sighed and immediately felt pity to the boy.

Chris has no idea what was in store for him.

* * *

_AN: Well, there's the first chapter of the newly rewritten Who Knew?. Hopefully people still like it! And I hope the people who read it before still enjoy it. So please don't be afraid to drop a review :) If there's any mistakes or errors that I missed, please do let me know! Thanks for reading :)_

_-Kat_


	2. Tricky Consciences & a Surprising Choice

_AN: Hey guys! Thanks for your feedback so far! I'm sorry I haven't been able to make frequent updates! I'm trying to change that a bit. Most of my time for writing goes to my other story, The Warden Twins, with the little time for writing that I have. However, I'm still determined to keep this story going, I'm still planning on going through with the rewrite, and continuing it from there :)_

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**Chapter 2. Tricky Consciences & A Surprising Choice**

After watching Maes and Chris leave, Riza walked back to her desk and immediately began working on some paperwork. She knew that no matter the events that happened this morning, it was a normal, paperwork-filled day of work. She grabbed the first paper from the short stack at her desk, and with a pen in one hand, she began reading it through and filling it out.

_Type of mission? _She thought to herself,

No matter how hard she tried to fill out the paper completely, she kept becoming distracted by the constant chuckling and giggling coming from the other subordinates desk. She shot a glance at their conjoined desks, noticing they were all suspiciously huddled together. Falman, Fury, Breda, and Havoc all seemed to be conversing with each other, followed by a bellowing, and distracting, chuckle here and there.

Riza calmly put the pen down, trying to hear exactly what all the talk was about. _I'm not the only one with endless paperwork, and I'm not about to do theirs for them._ she thought to herself. Barely, just barely, she could overhear what they were talking about..

"I think it's safe to say that Riza's becoming soft toward that kid.." Falman stated.

"Psh," Breda scoffed, "My money's saying that she's putting on an act!" He began digging through his pockets, placing any money he had on the table.

Havoc shrugged as a cigarette dangled from his mouth, "I'm not putting any money down.. But I think Breda's on ta' something."

Breda raised an eyebrow, "What about your Fury?" His timid co-worker jumped at Breda's question, "Well? What'd you think?"

As soon as Breda questioned him, he locked his eyes onto him, waiting for an answer. This was followed by Havoc and Falman, also curious for an answer. All eyes were locked on Fury, like three vultures staring down at their prey.

Fury began to trip over his tongue, "Um.. I-uh.." his hands twisted together with nervousness. He slowly looked up at his fellow gamblers, "Stop looking at me like that! I don't know!"

Breda shrugged, "So, anyone else contributing to this pool?" He looked around at the little huddle. Little did he know that he spoke a little too loudly with that last sentence. All four of them turned around with dread as they heard an all too familiar sound..

_Click._

"What did I say about gambling in the office?" Riza asked as her shiny, trusty pistol was pointing towards the small group. What can I say? She always became annoyed when they would constantly gamble during work. She becomes even _more_ annoyed when the bet was about her. You would think that the guys would catch onto this by now.

A few moments of silence passed.

Silence became awkward.

. . .Awkward silence.

The quietness was broken as Fury stood up from his seat, holding his hands up in defense, "Please don't shoot me! Please don't shoot me!"

Suddenly, a huge chain reaction ensued. Fury's hysterical plead led to him pointlessly running around the room, arms flailing in the air. Being that Breda was easily influenced by his peers, he took Fury's behavior and copied it, also running around the room, pleading for his life. Havoc's eyes widened as Riza's gun was looking straight at them, so much fear instilled in him that his cigarette fell out, like in a slow motion kind of fashion. Havoc became completely useless, just staring into space with fear. While all this was happening, Falman stood there, stoic as ever. Some say they saw a tear coming from his eye, worried that Riza was actually going to fire at them for once. It was bound to happen anyway. Then, like the sun coming out after a horrible storm, everyone seemed to just.. Go back to normal as they heard the ever pleasing, and oh so quiet, sound of the gun returning its former place in Riza's holster. With a sigh, she clicked the safety back on her gun.

A satisfied smile crept onto Riza's face at the sight of the four working on paperwork. Just as she was going back to her desk, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

It was like déjà vu.

"Sir? Where are you going?" She arched a brow at her superior.

General Roy Mustang froze in his tracks, turning slowly to face her. _Damnit! Almost escaped,_ he thought to himself.

She crossed her arms at him, expecting an answer.

Roy forced a smile on his face, "Heh. Just getting my paperwork. Forgot to pick it up on my way in..." He awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he waited for a response.

Riza quirked an eyebrow again, "I thought you preferred finishing your old paperwork _before_ picking up your new stack.."

His attention was immediately directed to the shining, wondrous stack of paperwork from the past couple days. He sighed quietly to himself, thinking of other things to say. _What can I do to stall? I need to get away from all this paperwork_, he thought desperately to himself.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk.. Roy, you know procrastination is not the way to go."

_What the?_ Roy thought as he raised a brow, looking about to find the source of the voice. Suddenly, a little figure poofed onto his right shoulder. The tiny, 5-inch replica of Roy fixed his halo as he cleared his throat to speak. Roy looked at his shoulder in disbelief as he thought to himself, _Is that.. My conscience?_

The little guy looked Roy square in the eye, "Yes, Roy, it's me, your conscience. Been awhile, huh?" The angelic conscience ignored the bewildered look on Roy's face and continued, "Anyway, I was just saying, you shouldn't lie to your fellow co-worker just to get out of paperwork. You shouldn't want to escape it, Roy."

As Roy rubbed his eyes, still surprised at what he was seeing and hearing, another voice was heard to his left.

"Psh," the voice scoffed, "Who cares? Just stall for once. It's what _you_ want." Another figure poofed onto his left shoulder, swinging about his devilish tail as he arrived. The devilish 5-inch replica of Roy continued, "I mean, what's so wrong about that?" He peered around Roy's head, glaring at his opposite, "I shouldn't even be here, but _he_ had to show up."

Roy kept shifting his gaze between each figure, watching the two of them argue back and forth. In the two minutes that have passed since the consciences have appeared, Riza began to worry about her boss as he never responded to her question.

"Sir?" She asked with a concerned tone, "Are you alright?"

The consciences immediately stopped. Roy, along with the two figures, looked up at Riza, "Uh no, I mean, yes!" He spoke in a rushed tone, "Did I say _my_ paperwork? I meant _yours_." He directed his hands toward her desk, "You're almost done. Being that you've been through a lot this morning, I thought it would be the least I could do for you."

Riza tilted her head, and held a quizzical look on her face, "Are you sure you're-"

"Yes, yes, you're very welcome!" Roy exclaimed as he cut her off mid sentence, "Anyways, be back in a bit! Bye!" With that, he quickly darted out the room and shut the door behind him.

- _Meanwhile, in the infirmary..._ -

Maes watched from across the room as the doctor inspected Chris' wound. Luckily for the two, when they got here, the infirmary was not at all busy. The doctor gladly took a look at Chris right when they arrived. Chris seemed to be behaving well to the doctor. Maes was surprised that throughout this whole thing, Chris was acting alright about it. He wasn't screaming or crying with pain. Nothing. It's like he's been through things like this before. The doctor began cleaning the wound, then after instructing one of the nurse's, he had the nurse begin bandaging his wound.

"So, how is he, Doc?" Maes asked as the doctor approached him.

"Well, his wound was not infected. It was actually a fresh wound, probably from earlier today. We were lucky, it could have been much worse had he not come when he did." He paused for a moment, "... I also noticed some bruises and such on other parts of his body. Theses are signs of child abuse, Mr. Hughes."

With a reluctant tone, Maes replied, "I see..."

The doctor raised a brow, "If I may ask, what do you plan to do with him? We have plain evidence for abuse. With his testimony, there's a likely chance he could win the trial. I'm sure the boy wouldn't lie if he knew he would be safe. His parents could be subject to trial, but you must find him a good home to ensure he doesn't go through this again."

"Hmm," Maes pondered to himself for a moment, interlocking his hands together in thought, "I think I might go get the paperwork for child abuse crimes, find Chris a place to stay, and see where to go from there."

The doctor smiled, happy at the chance Chris will have for a better life. He gave Maes some medicine, instructions on when to give it if Chris feels pain, and some clear medicine in a tube, something to be applied on the wound whenever Chris should clean and change the bandages. With a hopeful smile, Maes gladly took everything the doctor offered him.

He stood up from his seat, shaking the doctor's hand, "Thanks Doc, for everything." With a smile, the doctor replied with a 'no problem' type of response. Maes looked over at Chris, who was getting done with the bandaging, "C'mon Chris, let's go visit Riza again!"

With a grin, Chris responded in a jubilant tone, "Alrighty!" then after saying his goodbyes and thank you to the doctor and nurse, he gladly followed Maes out the door.

As the two walked down the hall, a wide grin slowly crept onto Maes' face as something else slowly crept into his mind. He turned to Chris, speaking in an enthusiastic tone, "Hey Chris! You're not doing anything this weekend, right?" Before the boy even had a chance to respond, he continued, "Good! Because my little Elysia is turning 7 this weekend! You should come! Oh she'll be so delighted to meet you! I bet you'll make the best of friends!" Again, before Chris could answer, Maes reached into his pocket and flashed out a few pictures of Elysia, "She's the best! You'll see!"

"Uh," Chris stuttered a bit, he was at a loss for words after that bombardment of photos, but quickly got back on track, "So, um, what will happened to me now?" He looked up at Maes with curious eyes. "I don't have to go back home.. Right?"

Maes chuckled and slightly ruffled the kid's hair, "Don't worry Chris, you'll stick with us for now until we get things sorted out."

As this news hit his ears, Chris smiled as a wave of relief came over him.

- _Meanwhile.. Again_ -

Roy, who had been taking his little detour while receiving Riza's paperwork, was now running back towards his office with the stack of papers in his hands. He had lost track of the time, and didn't realize how long his little detour lasted. Procrastination was getting the best of him yet again! He began freaking out, thinking that Riza will catch on to his scheme to stall from his paperwork. _Dammit! Riza's going to kill me! _he thought to himself as he continued pacing through the halls.

In his frantic rush, he didn't even notice the two people that were down the hall. He didn't notice that the two people weren't even paying attention to Roy. As soon as Roy even caught a glimpse of the two, it was too late to stop. So there he was, crashing into one of the two people. Paperwork flew left and right, up and down, scattering through the hallway.

The crash sent Roy down towards the ground. After realizing what just happened, Roy quickly looked into the person he crashed into. He chuckled to himself as Maes, who was the victim of Roy's stampede, steadied himself as he stood back up. Maes chuckled with Roy as well, and extended his arm out to help Roy. Chris stood amongst the two, amused at the situation before them.

After the two had their laugh, Roy groaned at the scene before them. There goes all that paperwork.

He sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, "Great.." he mumbled to himself.

He bent down and scattered about, trying to gather up all the paperwork. Maes and Chris pitched in, making the process go by much faster. In no time, Roy had all the paperwork gathered up and the three were walking back to the office. On their way, they made small talk, and Maes explained to Roy how Chris did at the the infirmary, what the doctor said, etc.

Speaking in a low voice, and giving occasional glances to Chris to be sure Chris didn't hear him, Maes leaned over toward Roy, "So Roy.. Any ideas on what could happen to Chris?"

Roy shrugged, speaking with a casual tone, "How am I suppose to know.. Just drop him off at an orphanage for now." Maes sighed and shook his head to himself. He couldn't, well, he _could_ believe that Roy didn't care too much about Chris. He just wished he would show more interest for the poor boy. He's already been through so much. The two continued in silence until they reached Roy's office.

When they arrived, Roy hauled the stack of paperwork on Riza's desk, who within the time Roy has been gone, she completed all of her previous paperwork that was already there.

_How does she..?_ Roy thought to himself in amazement, but shook the thoughts out of his head as he dragged himself to his desk to finish his own set of paperwork still there. He sighed at the seemingly endless stack before him.

"Miss Riza!" Chris called out in excitement as he found his way to Riza's desk. He's made quiet an attachment to her, being that she had a resemblance from his own mother. Riza happily conversed with him as Black Hayate happily barked at Chris's return.

Maes happily smiled at the sight before him, then turned his attention to Roy. "Hey Roy, can I talk to you outside for a moment?" He asked as he leaned in the doorway.

Roy sighed to himself as he walked across the room, followed his friend out the door, slamming the door behind him. He looked around at the empty hallway around him, then back to Maes, "What do you want now, Hughes?"

"Heh," Maes nervously scratched the back of his head, but spoke in an bubbly tone, "I think I've found a place where Chris can stay for now!" He held his hands up in defense, "Though, promise not to burn me to a crisp after I tell you."

"... Maes, where are you going at?" Roy lifted a brow in curiosity.

"He could stay with you!" Maes exclaimed as he lifted his arms in the air, further illustrating his point.

Roy's mouth pressed into a straight line. "You're joking.."

Maes shook his head, "No, no! I'm serious.. It'd mean a lot to Riza." He grinned broadly, "I mean, you have enough money to care for Chris, even temporarily! You also have a huge house, with plenty of room for him." Maes shrugged, "Heck, you could even adopt him if you'd want."

"Don't push it." Roy replied in a dry tone. "Are you sure this is the only option?"

Maes nodded, "Riza can't, she works too many hours and won't be able to care for him that well." He shoved a stack of papers into Roy's arms, "Here, you need to fill these out if you're going to be a temporary guardian."

"Fine." Roy grumbled, "As long as it won't be for long. We'll sort out everything and he'll be out of my house as soon as possible." He began looking through the papers as he headed back into his office.

"Give me the papers back once you've filled them out!" Maes grinned with excitement as he waved goodbye to Roy.

Closing the door behind his friend, he gleefully began walking down the hallway, bouncing foot to foot with excitement. Little did Roy know... The "temporary guardian" papers _were_ in fact adoption papers. He knew Roy wouldn't look at them too carefully, and would just sign it, just like he does on all his other paperwork.

_Operation "Get Roy a Wife" is now in progess_, Maes thought as he cheerfully headed back to office with a grin from ear to ear.

* * *

_AN: There you go! Sorry it's been taking me forever to update. I have no excuses, but I'm trying to find time to update more often with all of my stories. Please give me your feedback! Whether you think it's good, bad, I'd like to hear it so I can improve my writing :)_

_Please and thank you!_

_-Kat_


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